Possible world-record tuna caught off Cabo San Lucas

Guy Yokom and his crew from El Suertudo after weighing in a potential all-tackle, world-record yellowfin tuna at Cabo San Lucas. The yellowfin weighed 427.5 on one scale, 421 on another.
Pisces Sportfishing

Dana Point's Guy Yocom's boat is El Suertudo, or, The Lucky One, and the 55-year-old angler may be just that after catching a potential all-tackle, world-record tuna that weighed in at 421.5 pounds and 427 pounds at Cabo San Lucas.

Yocom, who owns the 61-foot Viking boat, El Suertudo, plans to get both scales that he weighed the fish on checked and verified in San Diego so he can submit the catch as a world record with the International Game Fish Association. Minerva Saenz of Minerva’s Tackle and an IGFA representative in Cabo San Lucas, was present at the weigh-in. If the catch is approved by the IGFA, Yocom stands to earn $l million. He said he used a 12/0 Mustad hook and that would qualify him for Mustad’s “Hook A Million” program that rewards anglers for catching state and world records with Mustad hooks. He said he registered for the contest and is eligible, and Mustad’s Steve Tagami confirmed that on Thursday. The first new IGFA certified all-tackle world record for any of the eligible species earns that angler $1 million. Yellowfin is one of the 10 species.

Either weight, 421.5 pounds or 427 pounds, would be a world-record catch and break the 405.2-pound catch, the present all-tackle world record for yellowfin, landed by Sunland’s Mike Livingston in December of 2010 aboard captain Mike Lackey’s Vagabond out of Point Loma Sportfishing.

“We feel really good about how everything that went into the catch, and now we’re just going to get the scales verified and apply for the record,” said captain Greg DiStefano, 42, a San Clemente resident who has run El Suertudo for Yocom for six years.

Yocom, a concrete contractor whose business is in Norco, told Tracy Ehrenberg of Pisces Group in Cabo San Lucas that he and DiStefano and his crew went out specifically looking for a world-record tuna. Later, Yocom told U-T San Diego he was “very fortunate” to land such a once-in-a-lifetime fish. They were fishing 180 to 200 miles south of Cabo when he hooked the huge tuna on a chunk of tuna. Yokom said he used 100-pound line Spectra backing with 200-pound Yozuri pink fluorocarbon spooled on a Shimano Tiagra reel. He pinned a chunk of tuna to a 12/0 Mustad Demon hook.

“I was very lucky,” Yocom said. “We’ve been out looking for big fish for quite a while, and this time I was fortunate to land one. It was my time up. The rod was in the rod holder, and it was my time up. I grabbed it and landed it.”

Yocom said he landed the fish without any assistance and followed IGFA rules. He used a Black Magic fighting belt and couldn’t believe he landed the giant tuna in 55 minutes. He said he caught it around noon on Tuesday.

“I’ve fought 130-pound tuna longer than that,” he said.

Yocom said the tuna taped out (based on a formula for big fish) at 433 pounds on the boat. Yokom said it measured 88½ inches inches long, 64 inches around.